It is 1636 – the height of the Thirty Years War. The Spanish armies swell out of the Artois region of the Netherlands, flooding into King Louis XIII’s France. The border village of Dax-en-roi stands in their way. The Chevalier de Roland rallies a valiant defence, but his household guard is no match for the invaders. There is only one survivor of the Spanish brutality: the lone heir to the Roland n... More >

A murdered woman is discovered in a City hotel room: Elena Danya, high-end prostitute. Another working girl, her friend, is found dead. Then aristocratic bad-girl Arabella, another friend of Elena’s, goes missing. The evidence points to a voyeuristic predator, but D. I. Will Wagstaffe is not convinced. Instead his investigation leads towards three ruthless and dangerous men: a City banker, a Russi... More >

London. A city where no one feels safe and one man’s crime is another man’s justice. A paedophile is brutally murdered, and to protect other known offenders the police must haul the families of their victims down to the station for questioning. It’s just another day in the life of DI Will “Staffe” Wagstaffe. In this case nothing is simple, least of all Staffe’s personal life. He finds the boundari... More >

In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. And it’s been that way for 50 years. Then the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences will change his life forever. Apryl, a young American woman, arrives at Barrington House where she begins to unravel the hidden story of Barrington House and the transforming evil that st... More >

We may well be ‘a nation of shopkeepers’, but for generations England was a country dominated by its middling families, rooted on their land, interested in turning a profit from their property. Adam Nicolson’s riveting new book concentrates on 14 families with a time-span from 1400 to the present day, providing a chronological picture of the English, seen through these intimate, passionate, powerf... More >

Ruth Braams is at the Rijksmuseum researching the provenance of artworks looted by the Nazis, when an old woman barges in and demands the return of a painting by her 18th-century ancestor. Ruth discovers the picture has an eerie wartime history – and that the elderly Lydia is not the only claimant. So why did Hitler want this picture? Who was its obscure creator? Who are the figures in the paintin... More >

When Jim Nealon walks into Lizzie Flynn's shop and proposes that she help him make jigsaws, Lizzie agrees. She's about to turn 50, heading for her first hot flush. She could do with the distraction. Then Jim shows her the photographs he intends to use. Now the picture that was Lizzie's life is in the air, swirling around in a thousand pieces and threatening to fall. As she scrambles to put her lif... More >

Vernon Deyre is a sensitive and brilliant musician, even a genius. But there is a high price to be paid for his talent, especially by his family and the two women in his life. His sheltered childhood in the home he loves has not prepared Vernon for the harsh reality of his adult years, and in order to write the great masterpiece of his life, he has to make a crucial decision with no time left to c... More >

Laura Franklin bitterly resented the arrival of her younger sister Shirley. But Laura’s emotions towards her sister changed dramatically one night, when she vowed to protect her with all her strength and love. While Shirley longs for freedom and romance, Laura has to learn that loving can never be a one-sided affair.... More >

Ann Prentice falls in love with Richard Cauldfield and hopes for new happiness. Her only child, Sarah, cannot contemplate the idea of her mother marrying again and wrecks any chance of her remarriage. Resentment and jealousy corrode their relationship.... More >

Everyone expected Isabella Charteris, beautiful, sheltered and aristocratic, to marry her cousin Rupert when he came back from the War. It would have been such a suitable marriage. How strange then that John Gabriel, an ambitious and ruthless war hero, should appear in her life.... More >

When Alan Titchmarsh left school at 15 he found his spiritual home in the ancient greenhouses of the local nursery. He journeyed south to college and then to Kew Gardens where he encountered rare plants collected by Captain Cook. Then fate took a hand when he landed a job on BBC’s Nationwide as their gardening presenter. His childhood dream of inheriting the mantle of gardening god Percy Thrower w... More >

For 50 years we’ve travelled the world with Alan Whicker. In this landmark new book the man who actually has been everywhere looks back at the vivid range of people and places that have intrigued, amused and surprised us. Now we are guided through his lifetime of encounters with the great, the good and the not so good. Whicker brings out the best in his subjects, whether dictators or film stars, t... More >

Maya Lowe is one of the world’s biggest movie stars. Steve Watkins is her life-long friend. Both swear their relationship hasn’t changed since they shared a school desk. But can a friendship like theirs really survive a fame as great as Maya’s? Steve certainly thinks so. But amid the twists and turns of Maya’s public and private lives, the gulf between what Steve thinks and the reality gets ever w... More >

At midnight on 15 August, 1947, India left the British Empire. This defining moment of world history had been brought about by a handful of people: Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery Indian prime minister; Mohammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the new nation of Pakistan; Mohandas Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, despatched to get Britain out of India. Within... More >